


What are Friends For?

by Kereea



Series: Adventures When Not Adventuring [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Best Friends, Family Drama, Friendship, Humor, Letters, Matchmaking, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 19:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3393404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian and the Inquisitor discuss fashion, family, and most importantly their tastes in men.</p><p>And then Lilith Trevelyan tries to get him a boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What are Friends For?

Sometimes he wondered if this is what having a little sister would have been like. True, she looked nothing like anyone in his family and thus, _scandal_ , and frankly her entire personality would never have worked out in Tevinter at all, too into social justice and too bad at putting up fronts of false politeness, but…he was sure he’d had an actual coherent line of thought somewhere in there.

“Please tell me the book _itself_ hasn’t offended you, usually it’s just the selection,” Lilith asked dryly.

“Forgive me was, I scowling?” Dorian asked lightly.

“Somewhat,” the younger mage replied, smirking at her own studies. “So, is it the book or your mind, then?”

“Just thinking about Tevinter. My family.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.

“You can do that with merely scowling now? Things _have_ improved.”

Brat. Even if she had helped him…well, he wasn’t sure exactly how it had helped with his father, but they could jot off terse notes to each other now. Magister Halward seemed at least somewhat pleased to know of his son’s continued existence, and Dorian wasn’t ready to do much more than that. _Still alive_. _It’s been cold at Skyhold_.  The breezes here have been oddly strong lately, as well. _We killed a dragon last week. Still alive_.  That sounds interesting, what spells did you use? He was still trying to figure out how to keep the answer short…perhaps just a list?

It worked well enough. “I suppose. Of course, soon my mother will find out that about twice a month he gets a scrap of paper from me and then she’ll want in on it.”

“You mentioned at the Winter Palace that she can be…demanding,” Lilith said.

“If I’m lucky there will be no ear dragging,” Dorian groused.

“She’d have to come here first,” Lilith pointed out. “And I might protest the kidnapping of one of my most trusted mages.”

“She’d see you as some upstart novice mage who needed to be put in your place, I assure you,” Dorian said. “Or complain about your fashion sense.”

“ _You_ complain about my fashion sense,” she replied.

“Well…it’s rather dreadful, dear,” Dorian said. “You wear the same thing all the time around Skyhold.”

“I don’t _have_ any other clothes besides what I wear in battle. And most of that has bloodstains of some sort, or other damage.”

“…Keep the ugly grey thing until we find you something better,” Dorian decided. She was admittedly terrible at keeping her battle gear in check, appearance-wise.

“I don’t think I have the time to go shopping, Dorian.” Ah there was her bitterly anti-adornment side.

“Such a pity. I’ve been meaning to try and get Cole a new hat as well. For, well, when his utterly disintegrates on him.”

“Got a time estimate for that?”

Dorian frowned as he thought, “Well, despite the fact that the metal bits shall certainly live longer than the cloth bits…I give it a few months. Assuming the hat doesn’t go through too many storms or bogs.”

“Maybe we can go shopping in a few weeks if there’s no crisis by then.”

Dorian smiled, “Good. Because grey is not your color.”

“And what, pray tell, is my color?”

“Something warmer, certainly,” Dorian said. “Or at least richer, it depends on the lighting with you skin tone, really…perhaps a warmer shade of purple…?”

“Design my wardrobe later, please,” Lilith said.

“Well, I’ll stop doing it out loud, at least,” Dorian chuckled. She couldn’t complain about his thoughts, after all.

Lilith rolled her eyes at him. “Figured out how to keep killing a dragon short, then?”

“Leliana told you?”

“She thinks it’s adorable how curt you are. I didn’t quite get it but, well, I only write one of my brothers.”

Dorian frowned. She had two, as he recalled, and both parents living. But that was really all he knew. “I just realized I don’t recall you ever talking about your family despite you getting so involved with my relationship with mine.”

“Well I’m happy to be writing with Connor. He’s the middle sibling,” she said. “Bard with a good sense of humor. I think you’d like him. He did some spying near the border with Orlais for me, recently, found those Red Templars that were hiding in that abandoned mine for us.”

“Oh, well, good for him,” Dorian asked. “And the rest?”

“Eh…” Lilith trailed off.

“Come now darling, don’t leave me in suspense,” Dorian pressed.

“Well…uh…they never tried to rewrite my mind with blood magic,” Lilith said finally.

“My father always sets _such_ high standards,” Dorian said. “Still, there’s a lot below ‘risking destroying your child’s mind’ I’m sure.”

“Well…you know how circles work here in the south, right?”

“Vaguely,” Dorian said. “Mostly from ‘this is why we had the civil war start’ sources.”

“Well, they’re quite isolated. And people tend to get written off from the family once they’re shipped off. I mean, I wasn’t even the spare to the heir, I was the spare to the spare,” Lilith said. “So it’s sort of a ‘they washed their hands of me’ sort of thing? Except Connor, he wrote. And complained about them not doing it.”

Dorian felt his jaw sagging and quickly shut it, “Wrote you off?”

“It was so damn annoying when they started writing me once I was Inquisitor,” Lilith said with a painfully tight smile. “Again, except Connor. He’d been writing all along. But now it was all about how I could help the family and my reaction was essentially ‘oh, that’s real funny’ because last _I_ checked I was a disappointment.”

“You southerners are so odd. A mage as a disappointment,” Dorian muttered, shaking his head.

“Don’t make me start bringing up issues with Tevinter now,” Lilith said.

“No, no, dear, go on, no need to derail the discussion,” Dorian said.

“So anyway now I have to deal with them writing me over all this stuff and I delegate all my responses through Connor because Maker’s _tits_ am I ever not writing them but now he’s writing me about how he’s not that happy writing them, whether it’s for me or not.”

“Sounds complicated,” Dorian said. “I like it.”

“You would,” Lilith complained. “Better topic. _Now_.”

“Of course, Inquisitor. Far be it for me to stress you out during your rare downtime,” Dorian said. But maybe one last tease. “Well, since we’re gossiping, we could always talk about the sort of men we like.”

To his shock she nodded, “Much better. Some of the new mages a kind of attractive, huh?”

“Should Bull be worried?”

“I said _kind_ of attractive,” Lilith said.

“They can be,” Dorian agreed. “Though the same could be said for some of the soldiers.”

“True, but we all know why you’re looking at the soldiers. Or at least who’s training them.”

He ignored the jab, “Are you saying I have a type?”

“We all have types,” Lilith said. “True, they can change, like I used to really like blondes but right now it’s not doing it for me.”

“I don’t know,” Dorian mused. “I’m actually leaning towards blondes at the moment.”

“Or _a_ blonde.”

Brat. She’d led him right into that one.

“Well we all know _your_ type: horned,” Dorian said, not caring if he sounded unworthily waspish.

“He’s black-haired, did you not notice the beard?” Lilith asked cheekily.

“Oh and the horns have absolutely _nothing_ -”

“I never said that” Lilith said, smirking. “They are quite nice.”

“My, my, _my_ , does the Inquisitor have a dirty enough mind to find such a thing…alluring?”

“Oh _please_ , as if you weren’t looking at him when we first met you. You certainly weren’t scanning me, Cassandra, or Solas!”

“Well, yes. He was certainly interesting…but of course then you got your hooks into him and I’m not the sort to take from my friends.”

“Oh good. I’d hate to have to kill you.”

“Well, I’m sure you’d be spectacular at it, given your body count and magical prowess. Quite the show…anyway, how is he?”

“Huh? Fine, I guess, he just got back with the Chargers from-”

“Don’t play coy, Lilith. How _is_ he?” Dorian pressed.

“Oh!” She blushed deeply. “Good. _Really_ good.”

“I wondered why you seemed happier. Just think, all it took for the Herald of Andraste to relax was for her to get some sex on a regular basis.”

“It’s not just the sex,” Lilith said before blushing more deeply.

“Oh-ho! She needs more, does she?” Dorian teased. “Do tell.”

“Oh _hell_ no. You’re not getting more out of me without giving something up first.” She folded her arms imperiously. It was easy to imagine her sitting like that on her throne, dispensing judgments.

Which only made him want to mess with her more. “Well, I’m not sure what I could possibly suggest, Lilith. You know I’m not currently engaged in such activities.”

“And how do you plan to go about getting yourself engaged in them?”

“This isn’t about me, darling.”

“Is now. How are you going to seduce my commander, then?”

Dorian did his best to look amused instead of embarrassed. “Who says I need to seduce him?”

“Your lack of being laid.”

“Ah, touché. Well, who says seduction is my intention?”

“Is it not?” She was smirking at him, chin leaning on bridged fingers. “I can’t say you seem the type to just sit idly by, Dorian.”

“Not seducing someone isn’t the same as sitting idle.” It was flimsy but an argument was an argument.

“Are you scared he won’t _like_ you, Dorian?” She said it so innocuously, with her eyes widened so large, that he actually felt _bad_ at the fleeting urge to set her belt on fire.

“Really? Are we twittering young maidens now, Inquisitor?”

“I don’t know, are we?” She was smirking again. How she could go from doe-eyed innocent to conniving Inquisitor in under a second he’d never know. Though he didn’t doubt people would try to breed for such an ability in Tevinter. Very useful.

“…All right, assuming he’s the sort to fall for my charms, what would you suggest?” Might as well, since she seemed to be offering.

“Huh…” she tapped her chin. “Well, you already kind of flirt over chess, don’t think I haven’t seen it…but then he probably thinks that’s you trying to mess with him, throw off his game…I suppose you could try flirting outside chess?”

“I did!”

“Oh, the Wicked Grace game,” Lilith mused. “I’m not sure wanting to see someone naked is the same thing as flirting. I mean, I wanted him naked, Josie wanted him naked, Bull wanted him naked, Sera’s not even into men and she still probably would have liked to see it for comedic reasons…”

“Oh,” Dorian sighed. “So he’s the hard sell, you’re saying? Blatant or nothing? Because I think blatant would fluster him beyond all belief.”

“No, no, you’re right,” Lilith agreed. “Hell, I was the one coming onto Bull but when he first said the phrase ‘Ride the Bull’ I-”

“He said what?” Dorian snickered, clamping a hand over his mouth so no one else in the library would be disturbed. “ _Ride the Bull_? Ha-ha- _ha_!”

“Yeah, yeah, there’s a million puns about our sex life. I drink with the Chargers pretty often, already heard it all,” Lilith said. “Should hear how much they get out of Krem’s name.”

“No, no, it…it makes…sense,” Dorian chortled as he reigned his self-control back in. “Well, fine, Bull made you blush even though you’d been very forward. What do we think that says about my potentially trying to…ask something…of Cullen?”

“Well, first you’d need to get him away from work. I can do that pretty easily, I’ve ordered him to take breaks before,” Lilith said.

“You _order him_ to take breaks?” Dorian asked.

“You know how you think I work too much? Multiply it by five and we’re still not at Cullen,” Lilith sighed. “Leliana, Josephine, Cassandra and I told him it was mandatory breaks or secretly drugging his food.”

“Oh my. So, what, you think he ‘needs to get laid’ as the saying goes?”

“I think it’d be good for both of you,” Lilith said. “You’d be good for each other.”

Dorian laughed, “Lilith Trevelyan: Inquisitor, Herald of Andraste, and _matchmaker_!”

“You _would_!” she protested. “I’m sure your hedonism combined with his addiction to work could find a _very_ happy medium!”

“Oh really?” Dorian asked. “And what makes you think he’d go for it?”

“He stares at you. A lot.”

“He’s a _Templar_ , or a former one. The only people more threatening than an ‘evil Vint’ mage are the apostate who spends too much time in the Fade and the spirit we let wander about because he has puppy eyes. Of course he keeps an eye on me—he’s just lucky I’m nice to look at.”

“He also gets flustered when you come up in conversation.”

All right, that was interesting… “And why do you bring me up?”

Lilith grinned as she twirled the end of her braid around her finger, “Because you have a crush on him, obviously. Same reason the Chargers bring up Bull with me when he’s not around. Gauge how I feel about someone they care about. I’m sure Skinner’s planned exactly how she’ll remove my innards if I do anything to hurt him.”

“…How cheery.”

“I know, it’s cute how protective she is,” Lilith said. Either she’d taken him seriously or considered this ‘Skinner’ wanting to kill her perfectly fine. He wasn’t sure which would be worse.

“All right, assuming you’re right about the Commander, we still don’t know how I’d go about approaching the subject,” Dorian said.

“Well first it needs to not be during chess…” Lilith mused. “And to get him away from work…”

“We established both of those already.”

“I know, I’m just repeating them to get the ball rolling…oh I’ve got it.”

“What?”

“You head over to his office sometime tomorrow and tell him I’m making you play messenger about reminding him to take a break.”

“Cullen knows I wouldn’t throw you under a cart so easily,” Dorian noted. “…Unless I thought it was silly you asked me to do such a thing and didn’t realize how seriously he needed one…”

“And just suggest something that isn’t chess!” Lilith said.

“…That’s a lot of potential somethings,” Dorian noted. “…Think he’d go for just a walk?”

“Right, and then you can flirt with him without it being competitive!” Lilith said. “We’re _brilliant_.”

“That goes without saying, darling,” Dorian chuckled. “All right, we’ve planned my sexual forays for the time being…now what is ‘not just sex’ with you and the Qunari, again?”

.o.o.o.

“How did you two talk me into this?” Krem groaned.

“Because Dorian’s our friend and we needed a third set of eyes,” Bull said.

“Also I bribed you with getting to deliver Scout Harding’s supplies next week,” Lilith added, peering out her window. “See anything yet?”

“Birds. Gardeners. Sera,” Krem said.

“Oh, hey, what’s she doing?” Bull asked. “Swap with me!”

“Think she’s just trying to put a bucket just so on the ledge,” Krem said, doing as he was told.

“Oh, _shit_ , boss. I think I know where some of that stolen honey went,” Bull laughed.

“Yeah, I already wrote it off as being Sera,” Lilith sighed. “Seemed like her sort of thing to do.”

“Anticipation. Expectation. Please let this go well I want it to go well-”

“Hi Cole,” Lilith chuckled as Krem started.

“Maker! Don’t appear five feet from someone!” the mercenary gasped. “I about punched you in the face!”

“Sorry,” Cole said meekly. “Lilith, what do you want to go well?”

“We’re seeing if Dorian and Cullen like each other,” Bull said.

“Oh…but they do like each other. At least, they seem to? And their thoughts…no, sorry, those might be private, right?” Cole asked.

“Right—guys, over here!” Lilith said, waving the men and boy/spirit over.

“This is _horrible_ spying, by the way,” Bull added. “I mean, you’re lucky Dorian thinks you wouldn’t spy on him-”

“He does,” Cole corrected. “He just didn’t think she’d find a way to spy on him there since this tower’s so broken and it’s the only thing to see that. She’d never sneak past everyone up into such a rickety place, he’s clever for picking such a hard-to see spot-”

“…I take it back, good spying,” Bull said.

“Seems to be going well…oh _Maker_ you’ve got me doing it,” Krem groaned.

“No concern for your fellow Vint?” Bull teased.

“Shh!” Lilith hissed.

“You’re not going to hear them anyway!” Bull protested. “Unless they start yelling, but that would be bad.”

“Nervous, so nervous. Afraid to ask, to bring it up, afraid it will go wrong—should I tell them not to be afraid?” Cole asked.

“Who’s afraid?” Lilith asked.

“Both of them,” Cole said.

“Huh,” Krem said. “Oh, and don’t interfere, Cole.”

“If you say so,” Cole replied.

“I think Cullen’s blushing,” Bull said, squinting. “Oh yeah, blondie’s definitely blushing.”

“This is so cute!” Liltih said.

“How can you _tell_ when the stupid spangles on Dorian’s outfit keep hitting the sunlight like that?” Krem asked. “Stupid blinding wardrobe…”

“I think it’s pretty,” Cole said. “They make little rainbows sometimes.”

Krem shrugged then nodded in agreement as Bull chortled, “Oh they’re going to be standing there all day at this rate!”

“Heckle loud enough for them to hear and I’ll have your horns!” Lilith hissed.

“Sorry boss.” She was too busy peering at the scene to roll her eyes at the cheek in his voice.

Lilith beamed as Cullen reached out and cupped Dorian’s cheek, “ _Yes_! Ooh to be one of the ravens…”

“If you were one of Red’s birds Dorian would probably set you on fire for interrupting him,” Bull noted.

“Oh, good point,” she said.

“Well, isn’t that sweet…” Krem said. “Now I need to go think about how to tease my dear fellow Vint over this…”

“Why would you tease someone over this?” Cole asked.

“It shows you’re friends. I’ll explain on the way down,” Krem said as they both headed for the stairs.

“Good because I don’t see how it shows you’re friends…”

“Krem’s pretty good with him.”

“Yeah, most of the Chargers are on Varric’s side abut Cole and treat him like a puppy,” Bull chuckled. “I swear, Stiches can’t see the kid without patting him on the head.”

“Oh, that’s cute,” Lilith said. “Come on, we’d better follow them before someone catches us.”

“Why?” Bull asked innocently. “ _Obviously_ we just wanted to have sex in the tower since no one comes up here…”

Lilith grinned, “But we’re not disheveled enough for that.”

“Not yet we aren’t,” Bull said, smirking. “But give me a few minutes…”

.o.o.o.

_Still Alive. Mostly fire spells against the dragon to draw its attention in certain ways, Inquisitor used lightning. Also I recently snogged an ex-Templar._

.o.o.o.

Thank you for the information about the dragon, I was quite curious. How is someone an “ex-Templar” exactly? Is the South different?

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah post "Last Resort of Good Men" and I did go the reconciliation route. In my canon Dorian and his dad are semi-communicating (Dorian's not sure how much he wants to and Halward's trying to not push him) but it's still strained. Hence him focusing on Cullen's profession instead of anything else. Halward's trying but he's not sure how, and his old prejudices aren't going away overnight.  
> Also post "Demands of the Qun" and Bull is a Tal-Vashoth, Dorian just messed up his terminology.  
> Cole is adorable. It is known.  
> I've noticed the majority of inquisitors don't like their family and the rest do. I wanted a half and half sort of deal but it turned out to be 1/4-3/4 instead. Yes I'm planning on using Connor Trevelyan the Bard later.


End file.
